Spreading from the western Pacific, the lethal heat wave associated to the 2015/17 El Niño hit the western Indian Ocean around February 2016. Here in the Seychelles, the water temperature averaged 30°C for four consecutive months, peaking over 31°C on some days!

I arrived on Praslin and was met by two volunteers who showed me to the dorms at Nature Seychelles’ Island Conservation Centre and who helped me settle in. I then met Nature Seychelles’ Reef Rescuers team the next day - Louise and Austin.

Its official, our oceans are experiencing a coral bleaching event on a global scale. Since October 2015, scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been reporting high ocean temperatures across Hawaii and the Caribbean, causing widespread coral bleaching. The phenomenon has now reached the Western Indian Ocean, which has been on coral bleaching alert since the 4th of January this year.